The Lodge (Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz, 2020)

[Mr Sausage]

I went to the Fantasia Film Festival, saw some films, here they are:

The Lodge (Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala)

The movie I was most looking forward to. Franz and Fiala are talented and capable filmmakers who had not yet realized their potential. Goodnight Mommy was terrific and discomforting up to a point, and then ruined what it had built up with a twist as dumb as a bag of rocks. It was so infuriating; there was too much talent on display for the film to be so worthless, and yet that it was. Their contribution to the anthology The Field Guide to Evil was likewise terrific up to a point, and the most beautifully photographed thing in the anthology—and it ended abruptly and I thought unsatisfyingly, leaving it a tantalization more than a triumph. Two frustrating experiences, and yet there was such promise in these filmmakers that I was immediately excited at their latest. Two children are taken to the family’s lodge for Christmas in order to spend some time with their father’s fiancée, played by Riley Keough, who as a child had grown up the only survivor of a heaven’s gate-style cult. The father leaves for a few days to attend to work, the snow continues to fall, and the three have to deal with each other. That’s all I wish to say. Happily, F&F have finally made a satisfying movie. And yet they did so by making a good movie with a bad movie inside it. Imagine one of the dumber Alfred Hitchcock Presents scenarios, only instead of ending with the big, devious twist, the film casually reveals the twist in a matter of fact, almost by-the-by manner merely to get it out of the way, and then spends the rest of the last act exploring the consequences of the choices so far. So the dumb twist of a bad movie’s climax becomes a bad decision leading to a climax chilling and awful. F&F give no fucks; they never shy from the uncomfortable logic of a situation. This is a very, very good film. Beautiful too. And, you know, Riley Keough, if you want any more reasons to see it

[mfunk9786]

The highlight of the Philadelphia Film Festival for me so far [yeah, meaning it was better than Parasite, the most celebrated film in history] is... predictably for me, another NEON pickup (and it's a Hammer film!) - this time The Lodge, from the directors of Goodnight Mommy, a film I have never seen and know nothing about. Went into this entirely blind, outside of knowing that Riley Keough is just about as good a young actress as there is at the moment. I wound up with a bruised hand because I was clenching and crunching it against my cup holder so forcefully. Occupying a similar space to Soderbergh's Unsane, meaning it is largely about a young woman who may or may not be completely mentally unwell, and we, the viewer have no idea what the real answer is for much of the runtime outside of knowing we are incontrovertibly on her side, perhaps to our own detriment - The Lodge heads in a number of directions, which I would be loathe to spoil here. Production design is tops, the mood is chilling (literally and figuratively), and it feels like it exists somewhere in the space between The Innocents and Sinister, which is a very good place indeed. For some reason NEON didn't want to deal with this in the thick of Oscar season despite being ideal counter programming (the film takes place over Christmas), so you'll have to wait until February - but I was thrilled to be so... y'know... thrilled. Borderline excellent.

[Mr Sausage]

They have a terrific command of form. The atmosphere of their films is always masterful, especially their use of the natural world. Their outdoor photography has a palpable texture. As I said above, I think this is the first time they've had a solid script that uses rather than merely relies on a twist. I'm very excited for what they do next.

[mfunk9786]

Oh I didn't find your post initially! Loved reading your thoughts on this.

[therewillbeblus]

NEON is releasing The Lodge tomorrow, but - perhaps to add to their confusing release strategy/model - I can't find any information anywhere on this being a limited release, yet it's not playing anywhere in Boston. Anybody have an idea on how many theatres/areas this is showing and if it'll expand?

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Per the film's website, it's now playing in NY and LA, then expands on the 14th before going wide on the 20th.

[mfunk9786]

Per the film's website, it's now playing in NY and LA, then expands on the 14th before going wide on the 20th.

Movie's set during Christmas, too. Another instance of NEON messing up a release that could have a nice niche audience. Instead it'll just have no audience.

[therewillbeblus]

Per the film's website, it's now playing in NY and LA, then expands on the 14th before going wide on the 20th.

Thanks, I’ve been looking forward to this one for a while from mfunk and Sausage’s reactions last year, plus you know Riley Keough getting the spotlight doesn’t hurt- guess I’ll cross it off my calendar for tomorrow and check in next week

[Finch]

My thanks too to TFN for clarifying the release schedule as I'd been wanting to see the film tomorrow too and not finding it playing anywhere locally (based in WA at the moment). Obviously I misremembered the 7th as a wide release date instead of a slow rollout.

[therewillbeblus]

I don’t think you misremembered anything since it’s never been stated as such online and is apparently only listed that way on the film’s site. I usually check pretty obsessively when it’s a film I have my eye on and had the date marked after scouring to ensure it wasn’t limited. Obviously all I had to do was check the film’s site...but aside from that facepalm moment the absence of mention elsewhere seems strangely misleading.

[Finch]

AV Club's February preview says "selected theaters" for The Lodge but that piece was only added today. So I'll have to wait for two or three more weeks if I'm lucky for my local arthouse cinema to play it.

[lacritfan]

This should have the theaters/times when it opens wider.

[therewillbeblus]

This should have the theaters/times when it opens wider.

This is now showing showtimes for Feb 20 in the Boston area, presumably it's been updated for other states as well

[Glowingwabbit]

This should have the theaters/times when it opens wider.

This is now showing showtimes for Feb 20 in the Boston area, presumably it's been updated for other states as well

Thanks for the Boston update but hard pass on that AMC theater. I'll wait for it to pop up elsewhere.

[therewillbeblus]

This should have the theaters/times when it opens wider.

This is now showing showtimes for Feb 20 in the Boston area, presumably it's been updated for other states as well

Thanks for the Boston update but hard pass on that AMC theater. I'll wait for it to pop up elsewhere.

What happened at what theatre to warrant such a response? I'm no fan of the Commons one, nor the traffic in that area, but I'll gladly commute to the Framingham 16 which is a pleasant enough experience as far as AMCs go

[Glowingwabbit]

Ha sorry I specifically meant the one at the Commons I didn't notice the Framingham listing. Just never had a good experience there and now that I just moved to Salem I'm not planning to go into to the city for that theater.

[therewillbeblus]

That makes sense, well you've got Methuen only about thirty minutes away from you on a good day so that's probably your best bet unless there are others closer to your zip not showing up for mine

[Glowingwabbit]

There is an AMC near where I work that's fine. I'll wait to see if that's added in the next week.

[mfunk9786]

Oh man, this is coming to my local Regal! Going to see it like 3 times with Unlimited

[Glowingwabbit]

It looks a like several other AMC and non-AMC theaters in the Boston/North Shore area have showtimes now.

[Finch]

My local Regal in Bellingham chooses to show Brahms The Boy II instead. Sigh.

[therewillbeblus]

It looks a like several other AMC and non-AMC theaters in the Boston/North Shore area have showtimes now.

It's been added to the Kendall Sq theatre in Cambridge at the last minute, which should get a lot of Boston-area residents into the seats this weekend

[Mr Sheldrake]

The long, mostly silent, passage in the second act is stylish and powerful in its depiction of a psychic and spiritual no-man’s-land set against the pure white of the driven snow. In my genre naiveté I found myself praying that the grace of God might be bestowed upon these forlorn characters, so much suffering, trauma on trauma, but the religious iconography served more as accoutrements to that aspect rather than yielding a meaningful sub-text.

The twist is clumsy but quickly glossed over, the creators appearing to acknowledge the box they had written themselves into. The ending is indeed a punch to the gut, and Riley Keough is poignant in her disintegration. The children are also good, especially Lia McHugh as Mia, her grief intense and moving.

[therewillbeblus]

I’ll add to the praise here, but the less you know going in the better. If you enjoy the slow burn indie horror as of late, and welcome the perspective of something more different than it appears, go see this one immediately.

SpoilerShow

What sets this film apart from the other modern horrors are the intentionally subversive choices that lead to a gray space of realism (well, as far as the genre is concerned). We are introduced to Riley Keough slowly with anxiety, seeing the world through the eyes of two traumatized youth, and subsequently presented with Christian relics, pictures of potentially haunting family members, and the dollhouse.. there were times where I didn’t know if this would turn supernatural, or how Keough would be revealed as a villain, but the film does something else entirely. It transforms the villain into the victim. The kids’ antisocial behavior precipitates their own fates, like if the twins from The Shining were placed in the narrative of The Parent Trap. Emotional abuse is one thing but killing a dog, stealing a mentally ill person’s medication, and gaslighting them into insanity is just sociopathic. So these traumatized kids we have empathized with and seen the world through their perspective become the monsters, ghosts, killers, but as corporeal as they get; and of course because they are not actually Devil-children but complicated themselves, deserving both sympathy and judgment, we are left without a sole vessel to assign absolute condemnation. When this film’s red herrings all become washed away we are left with a sobering realization that is more horrific than all the supernatural or psycho killer horror we can use to alleviate our anxieties and escape, because we are forced to sit with a gray picture of responsibility.

So who is the “villain” or more aptly, where do you subjectively rank accountability? Is Keough at fault most because she killed everyone (except the dog)? Are the kids at fault most for manipulating all this stuff in place? What about the father who put everyone in this ridiculous situation to begin with and shrugged off any chance of his fiancé having mental health issues while leaving his kids with her for the first time they’re met her, against their wills? Both people I saw this with ranked the people they held to blame most differently than one another and me. That there is no “right” answer or easy solution is what makes this film elevate from good to great.

[Mr Sausage]

SpoilerShow

What's interesting, too, is how the kids and Keough have parallel experiences, both having been abandoned by a parent who preferred death. And yet there is no rapprochement, sympathy, or fellow feeling. In fact they mutually torment each other over their respective losses, deliberately or, in Keough's case, accidentally. There are ghosts in the movie that haunt the characters, but they take the form of the people that surround the characters, either as personified or misdirected trauma.